NOVEL TRANSMISSIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 16 November 1929, Page 14

NOVEL TRANSMISSIONS.

J.XP EHIMENTAD DEVI OES. The late M. Leiassor, inventor ol the selective type or gear-box, who produced nis lirst car in 1894, described his system of transmission as •‘brutal, but it works.” It is extraordinary that the modern transmission is only a modification of this system to which such a doubtful compliment <»as paid, i/e-assor prooably thought he was uttering the epitaph of nis jcie.ice, and lie could not have foreseen | how precision workmanship and better J metats would have made Ins patent . i.etter in pra-ti< e than in theory. The j mea ■i.i engaging two coys, oi one mo ling gear and a stationary cog, uoe.s not appeal particularly to the ear. Ne. erthelCss, Levassor’s invention is still the basis of most gear-sets, and one hears it standing up to abuse every I day. i it is not surprising that transmis-l sionis have bean the subject of more research during the last year than any other part of tlie car. Hundreds of inventions designed to improve gear nn#»rntiAns Vin.vp. nn+.pn

most interesting are front-wheel drive, self-changing gear-boxes, free-wheel and sprag devices, twin-top or constant mesh gears and the old ideal —indcfinitly British gears. The fact that some of these novelties have been embodied in reputable cars, and even made standard equipment, justifies interest. The transmission of a car has always been wrapped in mystery for most people. It has furnished us with novelists’ “howlers” since the days of chain drive. Who has not read something like this: ‘ ‘He pressed the clutch pedal and the car leapt forward like a living thing,” or, worse, '“Desperately he flung out the clutch and the car gathered speed.” front-wheel drive is an important trend and is no mere flash in the pan idea- Cars with this transmission have been used for years on the American tracks under the names of Millar, Cooper and Detroit Specials, Now there are hall a dozen ears in ordinary production with this drive. One is American, one British, and France and Germany have each several examples for the regular market. The advantage of front-wheel drive for saloon-body cars is that it allows particularly low build. There is no rear torque tube or bulging axle-housing to keep the floor of the car high. The front-drive car naturally pulls, instead of pushes, its weight, and it oozes around sharp corners on a constant throttle setting. Of course, a burst tyre or a skiu is likely to be more dihioult to control than in the case or orthodox rear drive. Semi-automatic or self-changing gears are not new, but one form lias been so. highly developed that jt is ottered as optional equipment on the 20 h.p. and 30 h.p. models of one well-j known British cap. The IJour-speed gear-box is epicyclie and the chosen gear is brought into operation by a simple contracting brake operated by a small lever mounted on a quadrant, on the steering wheel. There are six liosition, four forward speeds, reverse, and neutral. When getting away the driver moves the lever to first speed, but nothing happens until lie depresses the clutch and begins to let it up. Then the car picks up in the normal way. The lever is moved to second]

speed, and again nothing transpires until the pedal is depressed and allowed to come back-" When the car is running in top it is quite in order to move the lever back to third speed and tnen use the clutch to bring in the gear for hill-climbing A very rapid change can thus be made with the accelerator hard down. The gears look after themselves. ibis apparatus has been evolved from the invention of Major \V. G. Wilson, who was largely responsible for the design of wartime tanks. This mechanical control seems to fulfil the points which were not completely achieved by the electric system seen on an American car, of which t\ few .examples were running in New Zealand a few years ago. in this earlier system a set of Duttons on the steeringwheel controlled solenoids,- or electromagnets, which engaged the selected gear. Later a somewhat better r rencli device was tried out witn epicyciic

gears operated by electro-magnets, it a-as stated that the consumption to eneet the gear change varied from one to two amperes, according to the gear.j This electrical control, must not be confused with the more elaborate petrolelectric drive, employed with some success on certain commercial chassis, but| with very limited results on cars. Inj this lay-out, known as the £ntz system, a. dynamo driven by the- petroi engine feeds an electric motor. The free-wheel device has come into prominence very rapidly in England, uut ox a score of types, two or three emerge as distinctly -promising. Seven car manuiacturers are announcing that they are prepared to fit one of tiie approved devices for prices ranging from -c7 7s to £'Z5, and several have standardised. Another free-wheel is -being produced for application to 13 wellknown makes of cars. Tree-wheels were fitted to the. fleet of the London Metropolitan Police Torce. The free-

wheel gives the pleasant experience of coasting automatically- Petrol economies from 10 per cent- to 20 per cent, have been secured in specially staged tests, but in the hands of the average driver this difference might not be approximated. Altogether, the transmission novelties of 1929 are opening up some very absorbing questions.